Need help/advice on Group frustration...

[Marimmar@Home]

negative XP for no shows just caused my players to stay away completely. Not a good idea, as I have learned. Someone not 'hot' enough for the game might decide that it's actually too much trouble for him.

~Marimmar

 

[Lela]

I was running a game, which started fine but the last month was just hell. Roleplaying games are supposed to be fun, right? My group was doing the same things it sounds like...showing up late when they know what time to meet, playing later than we wanted to to try to get in as much gaming as possible...players talking about other things more and more during the game, disrupting it (especially during combat) and ruining the flow of the game...so I decided that I wanted to take a break, and we all agreed on two weeks.

Three weeks later, they decided that they started a game without me, didn't ask if I wanted to play, and told me to, pardon the expression, f**k off (I know cussing isn't really allowed, but in this case there is no other way to say what happened). Needless to say, why they did this, they never explained.

Sounds like you're better off without them. That little thing called maturity seems to be lacking and you'd probubally have had far worse problems later. Their loss and all that.

 

[Anavel Gato]

Stick it back to them. The game is supposed to start at 1, but doesn't until 2? Show up at 3 next week.

Either that, or start giving negative XP for the late people.

That's not a bad idea, but we play at my house. So, I would really need to find something to be at. About the negative xp's they would never reduce their characters.


Posted by Djeta Thernadier - Today at 12:44 PM
How often do you meet? Is it every Sunday?

Would it be possible to make it every other Sunday? Or change the date from Friday, Saturday or Sunday, every other week?

The wya my group does things is we play every other week on Saturday whenever possible. If someone can't make a day, we try to use a different day that weekend. If that won't work, we make it the following week.


If that's not possible for you & your group, I agree with trying to find a different group that is more stable and able to suit your needs. Or taking a break from this group


We used to play on mondays, but I now have class on mondays as does another player. I work at a job that my schedule changes. I told them though that I can't work sundays. The reason we changed it to sunday was so the one player who had moved away could play when he was home (if he could make it)...

You all have given me some great advice. Thanks...

 

[d4]

Either that, or start giving negative XP for the late people.

i agree with Marimmar that negative XP punishments don't work.

i had one group where some of the players were consistently late. i always sent out an email a day or two before every game as a reminder: "We are playing this Sunday, at noon..." and yet three-quarters of them wouldn't show up until one or one-thirty...

so i eventually had to resort to: "We are playing this Sunday, at noon. anyone who arrives before noon receives a +10% XP bonus."

everyone showed up by 11:59.

rewards, not punishments, is often the best way to change behavior. don't punish what you don't want to see; reward what you do want to see.

 

[Tewligan]

Wait, what's this? Can it be that no one else has said it yet? If so, then let me be the first to offer this advice:

Kill them and take their stuff.

Or barring that, talk with your group sometime. Let them know that you have difficulty enjoying the game with so much tardiness and apparent disinterest in the group. Find out if they're even interested in continuing the campaign - it's possible that they're just not very into it anymore. Gaming groups end eventually - the sooner you know a game's done, the sooner you can start hunting down players for a new one.

 

[William Ronald]

Taking a break might be a good idea, as would having a long talk with the players. Sometimes, DMs and groups can suffer burn out.

One way to avoid burnout is to have multiple DMs. This prevents anyone from being stuck with all the work, and gives everyone a chance to play regularly.